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[Entrepreneur Interview #15] Hirai (PlusPass) – Part 1

Group Companies
Interview

2025.07.01

A New Challenge After 10 Years!
Making an Enterprise That Can Help Improve Digital Literacy

D-POPS GROUP has 24 group companies that we call partners (at the time of publication).

For this article, we interviewed Yuta Hirai, the president and CEO of PlusPass, which was established as a part of D-POPS GROUP in March 2024.

◆The Story of Joining D-POPS

Sugihara:
Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing PlusPass’s President and CEO Yuta Hirai. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us!

President Hirai, you joined D-POPS (page only in Japanese) as a new graduate in April 2014. Could you tell us about your job-hunting situation at the time and what motivated you to join D-POPS?

Hirai:
I graduated from Kyoto Sangyo University, but originally I was aiming to become a professional soccer player. In junior high school, I was part of the youth organization of the J.League club team Consadole Sapporo, and in high school, I was admitted to Hokkaido’s Hokkai High School via a sports referral.

In university, I wasn’t able to get a recommendation because of an injury I sustained in high school and because the team didn't reach the national tournament, so I had to take an entrance exam for the first time. I couldn’t join the official university team, so I started my own separate soccer team and we made it all the way to the Japanese national tournament. After that, I tried out for soccer one last time in Italy, and when I failed, I gave up on soccer.

Then, I decided it was time to get a job, and I happened to encounter D-POPS. At the time, I had already decided that I would ride the length of Japan on a bicycle starting in May of my senior year at university, so I limited my job hunting to just three months, starting in February of my junior year.

I was working part-time at a privately owned restaurant tucked away in an alley in Kyoto, and while I was there, it transitioned from a limited-liability company into an incorporated company. This experience gave me the desire to become a business owner myself someday.

As I was job hunting, I happened to come across D-POPS. I was looking for a company where I figured I could train to become a business owner, so when I met their founder, President Goto, I felt an immediate, strong connection.

I bet anyone who has interviewed with President Goto will tell you this, but when I first met him, I would say one thing and he had over a hundred things to say in response. I was astonished and thought to myself, “Wow, there are people like this in the world?!” I couldn’t keep up with the depth of his conversation at the time, and I knew that if I worked underneath this man, I would definitely grow a lot.

I also interviewed with some large companies, but the questions asked and the content discussed during the executive interviews were quite shallow. Their HR people were passionate enough, but when it came to the executive interviews, the temperature would suddenly drop. D-POPS was the only company where the enthusiasm grew tenfold, even a hundredfold, with each interview. I didn’t find any other company like that, and I noticed that every single person at D-POPS was serious about their jobs, so I knew I wanted to join.

Sugihara:
So, you interviewed at major companies too. Did you hesitate at all?

Hirai:
I hesitated for only a moment, but in the end, I made a firm decision and never looked back! At the time, I had been scheduled for a final interview at a large corporation. But on my way from Kyoto to Tokyo for the interview in the capitol, I wasn’t really feeling motivated for it. I realized at that time that no matter what happened, I wanted to join D-POPS. So, I took my letter of acceptance from them and went to meet President Goto to tell him, “Thank you so much for this chance to work with you.”

Sugihara:
You already had an entrepreneurial mindset as a student. You did mention that your part-time job experience led you to want to start a business; could you tell us more about that experience?

Hirai:
The place where I was working part-time was an izakaya kappo (Japanese-style pub with high-quality traditional cooking). The workers from great Japanese companies like GS Yuasa and Kyocera, whose headquarters are in Kyoto, would go there for business dinners. The owner of the restaurant entrusted me with everything, so even though I was just a part-timer, I handled payroll, created shifts, and for some reason, even conducted interviews for full-time employees, ha ha.

I was involved in coordinating the reception for new store openings and even accompanied the owner to business meetings, which gave me the thought, “This is what it’s like to be a CEO.” Thanks to the owner letting me experience so many things during my university student days, I was also looked upon kindly by other restaurant owners in the area, who would encourage me and give me inspiration. It was this exposure to the work of a company president that made me want to start my own business.

◆Turning Points

Sugihara:
It has been 11 years since you joined. How do you look back on these 11 years? Did it feel long, or did it pass by quickly?

Hirai:
It passed like the blink of an eye. I feel like each year goes by faster as I get older, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to continue for over 10 years.

These 11 years since I joined D-POPS have absolutely not been smooth sailing or a completely stable increase the whole time. However, I believe that little by little, we rode the waves and achieved slow, steady growth.

There were various turning points, but the biggest one was being entrusted with launching our Rakuten Mobile shops in my third year at the company. When D-POPS came to the point of launching shops for Rakuten Mobile, I was approached by Mr. Iwama, who was the General Manager of Sales at D-POPS at the time and is now the President of a group company—that was the turning point.

I was very cocky back then, but I told Mr. Iwama over a bowl of ramen, “D-POPS doesn't have a number one store in Japan, does it? I want to make one.” Mr. Iwama said, “Let’s do it,” and that year, he opened five Rakuten Mobile shops. Since D-POPS also deals with other mobile carrier companies, it must have been difficult for Mr. Iwama to manage relationships with them while also negotiating with Rakuten at the same time.

I was appointed as the launch manager for Rakuten Mobile, and at this point, we have won the title of number one Rakuten Mobile shop in Japan many times over.

The second turning point was the V-shaped recovery of our KDDI business division. In my sixth year at D-POPS, the KDDI division had eight au shops and three UQ Spots, and a number of those stores were running significant monthly deficits.

The company was struggling with business as a whole, as well, and things were looking pretty bleak for everyone in the organization. But after I was appointed as the business division manager, we ultimately achieved our highest profit yet in my final three years there. At that time, it was less about building a system and more about figuring out how to turn a negative into a positive, so the experience of redesigning the system was huge for me.

After that, I returned to the combined sales store department where I was originally assigned when I joined. Around that time, I began to earnestly receive one-on-one guidance from D-POPS GROUP’s Senior Managing Director Watanabe (former Executive Officer and Business Division General Manager at Yodobashi Camera), who is also the Vice Chairman of D-POPS. I honestly feel that I am who I am today because of my training with Director Watanabe.

At the time, I couldn’t maintain Director Watanabe’s pace at all. During D-POPS’s transition phase, when it was being organized by now-president Masuda and Director Watanabe, there was a period when I personally felt, “I really can’t keep up with D-POPS anymore.”

But I also recognized that running away wouldn’t solve anything, so I decided to visit Director Watanabe’s office every weekend and continued to do so for about two to three years. Being able to talk to him and gradually understand his conversations became my third turning point.

Back then, I was also struggling with how to conduct myself. I knew I needed to perform well as the second-in-command, but I lacked the ability to bring things together. So, that was how I decided to meet Director Watanabe face-to-face the first time.

◆The Establishment of PlusPass

Sugihara:
That’s wonderful. I’ve also experienced this, but it’s not just a relic of the Showa era, but in any era, there will always be strict superiors or demanding seniors. And precisely because they are strict, you’ll manage to achieve results. If you simply run away from strict supervisors, I suppose you’d never be able to stop retreating. By coming to grips with the challenge, you can get closer to reaching their level. I can see that you, President Hirai, have that kind of willpower.

Then, last March, at the start of your 11th year at D-POPS, you took on the additional role of PlusPass’s CEO. Could you tell us about the circumstances of this appointment?

Hirai:
The opportunity to establish the company was given to me by President Goto. In December of the year before last, President Goto said to me, “I’m moving forward with a business transfer and plan to set up a new company to take it over. Would you like to do it?” I was very grateful for his offer. However, he also said that the company establishment and business transfer would be completed by February of the following year, so I would only have about three months to prepare, and he asked if I was ready for that challenge. I immediately replied, “Yes, I’ll do it!”

I was always telling President Goto that I wanted to start a business someday and perform as a company president. I think he was kind enough to remember that.

Regarding the business, there were many things I didn’t understand, as I would be taking on work I had never done before and taking part in due diligence for the first time. Still, I knew I wouldn’t move forward without making a decision, so with President Goto’s encouragement, I decided to take it on.

Sugihara:
That was a major decision. By the way, aren’t you managing PlusPass while concurrently working at D-POPS? How do you balance the two?

Hirai:
At the moment, I’m more involved with D-POPS, comparatively speaking. However, D-POPS is a telecommunications business that can negotiate directly with carriers, while PlusPass is an advertising agency business that can negotiate with advertising agencies. I feel that being part of both companies increases the scope of what I can achieve.

◆Business Overview

Sugihara:
You definitely have to capitalize on such a position! And with that, could you please introduce us to PlusPass’s business?

Hirai:
We operate a website for comparing low-cost SIM cards called “Smappy” (page in Japanese only). The ultimate goal of Smappy is to enable users to choose the mobile plan that is perfect for them. The reality in the telecommunications industry is that around 80% of users are not on a plan that suits them, and I believe a major factor in this is the difficulty of choosing a plan themselves. So, we want to operate a website that empowers users to select their own plans. We also disseminate information on YouTube.

Sugihara:
Does Smappy plan to continue operating exclusively as a smartphone-focused website in the future?

Hirai:
For now, that is the plan. However, we are currently increasing our product offerings, so there is potential for expansion in the future. We want to increase user choice regarding products related to telecommunications, so we’re thinking about putting together things like credit cards, securities accounts, banks, customer points, and payment systems. While the smartphone will remain central, I envision our website becoming a consultation service for the use of mobile and internet services in general.

Sugihara:
I look forward to seeing where you go from here! Now, could you tell us about Smappy’s features and its competitive advantages over similar products from other companies?

Hirai:
The business model is relatively simple, and we have a very high sales volume compared to other comparison websites. The reason for this is primarily our operational approach. We focus heavily on listing ads, and there are very few comparison sites that operate primarily with listing ads, which I believe is our greatest competitive advantage.

However, if our service stays the way it is for too long, it’ll be relatively easy to imitate, so we need to construct a more complex business model.

(To be continued)

Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara.